07 Nov 2016

For the past 10 years, Kazungula Children’s Ark has provided a safe haven for orphans and vulnerable children.

Having been established by a group of Kazungula youth in conjunction with Kubu Lodge, the centre is a community based organisation, which started operating in 2006.

This came after the realisation that there were a lot of children loitering around the streets due to shortage of pre-schools.

Most parents in the Kazungula area were not able to afford to take their children to Kasane private pre-schools, so this compelled the youth to come up with the idea of starting the school.

The centre admitted children aged two and a half years to six years and takes up to 30 children per year.

It also admitted children living with HIV and AIDS, abused sexually or otherwise, needy, destitute children and orphans.

The Social and Community Development (S&CD) office assesses the children in the area who are potential candidates, who are then enrolled and the main sponsor for the school is Kubu Lodge.

There are also various stakeholders who provide help, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) who help them with free food, European Union (EU) who have been helping them with grants for the past one and a half years, the United States (US) Embassy and many others.

The school’s head-teacher, Mr Lebopo Philly said children needed protection from any form of abuse and that in most cases vulnerable children were the ones who showed signs of emotional abuse.

“Most of the vulnerable children in the area are raised by parents who abuse alcohol,” he noted.

He further explained that in most cases, children who make it to their center are found spending entire days alone at home until late hours, with the parent coming home drunk, failing to give their children the love and care they deserve.

The coordinator of the school, Ms Emeldah Yuyi stated that their center works closely with the S & CD office in assessments, monitoring and provision of basic necessities.

Kazungula Children’s Ark also has a teen club for adolescents living with HIV and AIDS and its purpose is to impart basic life skills and guidance on living positively with HIV.

The centre also has a library available for primary school children in the community and has magazines, board games and novels available.

“It is there to keep them busy after school and during school holidays, to avoid them loitering around the streets and keep them away from trouble,” Ms Yuyi noted.

She said their aim was to have no child loitering in the Kazungula streets and prevent child abuse, either emotional or sexual.

Ms Yuyi also said they would love to teach the community more on children’s rights using the Children’s Act, with the involvement of the District Health Management Team (DHMT), social workers and nurses.

They also want to help the orphans and vulnerable children to feel loved, cared for and protected hence they enroll children at a young age.

The children are taught in classes, but they also have recreational activities for both indoors and outdoors. ENDS